Jubilee criticises Ruto-Raila pact, claims exclusion from talks

The Jubilee Party has criticised the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, arguing that key political stakeholders were sidelined.

Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni said the Party, despite being an affiliate of the Azimio la Umoja coalition, was not consulted in the negotiations.

Speaking Tuesday on Spice FM, Kioni accused Raila of making unilateral decisions that disregarded the interests of other coalition partners.

"I wish Raila had entered into this pact with the entire Azimio coalition instead of negotiating alone. This move has weakened the coalition’s collective strength. You can even see the consequences in the hostile reception he received recently in Kisii County," he remarked.

He also hit out at Ruto for failing to uphold multi-party democracy by excluding other political entities from the discussions.

"Raila should have used the existing political institutions to advance Kenya’s democratic growth and ensure an effective opposition. What we are witnessing now is a compromised opposition. Imagine, ODM has filled the most powerful departmental committees in Parliament—who, then, is in government, and who is in opposition?" he questioned.

Kioni also challenged Raila on his past calls for electoral transparency, questioning his silence on auditing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) servers.

"If we genuinely want to determine the actual election results, let’s open all the IEBC servers, not just from the last election but from 2007 onwards. Now that the two former rivals are working together, it is the perfect time to uncover the truth," he said.

He warned that the lack of a strong opposition could have serious consequences for governance.

"A government without proper checks and balances can overreach. We are already seeing efforts to amend the Constitution, and such a government could even withdraw Treasury funds without adequate oversight," Kioni cautioned.